Mr. Fixit jump-starts Giants

Fassel's midseason service call ignites another playoff drive

JANNY HU, Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Published
6:30 am CST, Sunday, January 5, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO -- With the exception of a few million dollars, New York Giants coach Jim Fassel might be your quintessential blue-collar worker. Just as a plumber is paid to repair a leaky faucet, the Giants' head coach is called upon to fix team problems, and quickly.

Two years ago, Fassel plugged a sinking Giants ship by boldly declaring the team would make the playoffs. This year, he tossed aside his bravado in favor of brevity -- in his offense, that is.

Tired of the sacks, false starts and turnovers that plagued the Giants so early in the season, Fassel took over play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Sean Payton after an Oct. 28 loss to Philadelphia.

Fassel chiseled away the stunts and motion plays that had tripped up the Giants and placed the stripped-down offense in the hands of quarterback Kerry Collins.

The results have been stunning.

The Giants (10-6) enter today's NFC wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers (10-6) on a four-game winning streak. Since Fassel began calling the shots, the Giants have scored 26 touchdowns after managing only seven in their first seven outings. In the month of December, the team averaged nearly 30 points per game.

"We are being a lot more productive," Fassel said. "Before you can really be good, you have to be fundamentally sound. You have to execute properly and eliminate the downside ... the turnovers, sacks, hits on the quarterbacks, and the sloppiness of play. You just have to.

"I thought we were trying to be a little too cute with all the motion and shifting and things like that. I wanted to streamline some things for Kerry. I want him to be able to think and react and be spontaneous on the field within the framework of what we asked him to do."

What Collins has done is nothing short of remarkable. He finished the season as the NFC's top passer and was named the conference's offensive player of the month for December. Collins threw for 1,802 yards and nine touchdowns, highlighted by the Giants' 44-27 romp over Indianapolis on Dec. 22, when he completed 23 of 29 passes for 366 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions and earned a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

Collins' favorite target has been Pro Bowl-bound tight end Jeremy Shockey, who caught 32 passes for 402 yards in December. The tandem already has San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci drawing comparisons to Steve Young and Brent Jones, but Shockey has proved even more versatile. The rookie from Miami has lined up as a wide receiver and even ran a reverse and threw a pass last week against the Eagles.

Suffice it to say, the 49ers will be facing a different -- and much more efficient -- offense than when the teams opened the season Sept. 5. The 49ers won 16-13 on a field goal by Jose Cortez, who since has been waived.

"Just the fact that they are playing so well as a team, running their schemes very well and not making a lot of mistakes out on the field, it forces difficult situations for offenses," 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "Philadelphia saw that last week (in a 10-7 overtime loss to the Giants) and that is what we're going to have to be aware of. We're going to have to compete against a team that's playing good football and not make any mistakes."

The 49ers, who won the NFC West, have been as shaky as the Giants have been solid in the second half of the season. After a blistering start, San Francisco lost four of its last seven games, with its only victories coming against Dallas, Arizona and Seattle -- none of whom are in the playoffs.

That difference has many picking the Giants not only to win Sunday's game but to ride their momentum all the way to the Super Bowl -- like Fassel's 2000 team and like last year's upstart New England Patriots.

The Giants? They aren't disagreeing.

"I told the team that obviously what we are doing at this point of the season is going for the Super Bowl," Fassel said. "So you can't say, `Don't talk about the Super Bowl,' because that is what we are going for. It is like at the beginning of the season saying, `We don't want to talk about winning a championship.' Well, that is what we are trying for.

"It is a single-elimination tournament and you get no second chances. ... It is not the best team who wins, but the team that plays the best."